A Single Change
by Minerva10Potter
Summary: Isn't it funny how a single thing can change so much. When Lily makes a new friend, how much will it change Harry's life? And what about the lives of those around him? (Mainly during Harry's Hogwarts years)


Lily stared at the piece of parchment in her hand, tears filling her eyes. She hadn't realised how badly being a witch had affected her sister, but it clearly had. She wanted to show this to Sev, but she knew what he would say – "She's not like us Lily. She isn't a witch, she doesn't understand. It doesn't matter what she thinks." – and she didn't want to be told that her sister didn't matter as much as she did just because when she waved a wand sparks didn't fly out of the end.

At the same time as these thoughts were flying through Lily's head, another young girl was walking past her desk in the library. She could have carried on walking, she could have ignored the, now crying, girl sat at the desk. Perhaps in another world she would have. It's funny, isn't it, how the smallest things can make the biggest impacts further down the line, this was one of those things.

She stopped and, speaking in a soft whisper, said "Are you okay?" Lily jerked up to stare at her, blinking in shock.

"I.." she started, "I… No"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

The words no thank you were on the tip of Lily's tongue before she realised that actually, yes, she did want to talk about it. "Yes, please." came the reply instead. Without waiting for another question, Lily began to talk, telling the other girl everything, about how she was a 'muggle-born', and how that seemed to mean that no one liked her, how her sister hated her because she could do magic, how her only other friend had ended up in a rival house, she could have gone on, except the other girl stopped her.

"It sounds like there's a lot going on, but it is only our first week, I'm sure it will settle down soon." she offered as words of comfort.

"You really think so?" asked Lily hopefully

"Yes" she replied.

"Thank you, " said Lily, "I really needed some one to talk to. Oh! I never asked your name!"

"Adelaide, Adelaide Fawley" she answered "And you are?"

"Lilith, Lilith Evans, but all my friends call me Lily"

And the friendship between these two would change the course of the future.

"James!" exclaimed Lily, exasperated "Would you stop worrying, it's just dinner!"

"Lily, it isn't just dinner, it was an invitation from high standing members of the Wizengamot, so they are… they are…." he struggled to find the muggle term for it " aristocats!" He finally said.

Lily burst out laughing, in between breaths she managed to get out "Aristocrats James, Aristocats was the film we watched with my parents."

"Oh," James had the decency to look slightly ashamed, "but it doesn't matter what they're called, they still have a very high standing in magical Britain."

"So, what do we do?" asked Lily.

"Do you still have the invitation?" James asked by way of answering.

Lily nodded and went to get it from her study, when she handed it to James, he carefully read it, taking note of everything.

"They wrote it in green ink, which means it's a personal invitation, so it will only be us there. The rest of the letter is written formally, so it's a formal dinner, but they haven't signed with their titles, so it's dress robes without house crests." James said aloud so Lily knew what each aspect of the letter meant.

"You can tell all of that from a letter?" Lily asked in shock.

"The magical lords and ladies have a… code. Everything is very formal until you know each other well enough to be friends. I was raised in this world so I know how to act, but you'll probably pick it up soon enough." James answered.

"What do you mean? Peter was raised in this world but he never acts as formally as you sometimes do."

"Peter will never be a lord, but when my father dies, I will become Lord Peverell."

"Why not Potter?"

"The family of Peverell became Potter in 1809 when the heiress, Caroline Peverell married a Potter, Caden Potter, but the lordship stayed the same as the Potters held no lordship at the time."

"Oh, so your father is on the Wizengamot, and you eventually will be, but what does that make me?"

"You will be Lady Peverell, and our first born will be Heir or Heiress Peverell."

"What will happen if we mess up this dinner?"

"They may refuse to ally themselves with the house of Peverell, or they may set themselves against the house."

"But surely Adelaide wouldn't do that?" Lily asked hopefully.

"Maybe not, but Greengrass might." James answered grimly.

"His name is Raphael, but I still can't believe that she had a marriage contract!" Lily exclaimed.

"It's quite commonplace in the Wizengamot for sons and daughters of the family to be bound in a marriage contract, it's a way of creating an alliance." James explained.

Lily didn't look convinced, but she let the subject drop. "So," she started "shopping trip?" James just groaned.

Raphael and Adelaide, or Raph and Dee as they were known to the two people sitting opposite them, were sitting in a shocked silence, their ears still ringing with what they had just been told.

"You mean…" Raph started "that Harry… that Harry is… going to defeat… Voldemort, because of some prophecy Dumbledore overheard?"

"Yes." Said Lily "but Dumbledore seems to think that that means he has the right to try and take our son away!" She said the name Dumbledore with a venom in her voice that few people had ever heard the young woman speak with before.

"He what?" Dee half shouted "why?"

James tried to answer "He thinks that as the chief of the Wizengamot, he should be the one to train him…"

"So that he can have all the glory I'm sure." Cut in Lily.

"No, that old man is getting nowhere near my godson." Dee spat.

"I'm not sure how we can stop him, if we are killed, he will use all of his power to take custody of Harry. No," Lily stopped, the others opening their mouths to disagree "this is a war, there's always a chance."

"I'm his godmother," Dee offered "would that be enough?"

"No, he may just nullify the bond, then we have no chance." James explained.

They began to think, bouncing ideas off each other in an attempt to find a plan without any holes for Dumbledore to exploit. Half way through, Dee left to the bedroom to check on the children, and, finding them both asleep, she merely smiled and walked back downstairs.

It was some time later when James sat up straight in his chair, excitement dancing across his features. "What about," he started "what about, a marriage contract!" He looked around at the others triumphantly. "If we write a contract between Harry and Daphne, there's no way Dumbledore could dispute that!"

"James!" the other three exclaimed.

"Wait, listen. If we set up a contract, that can only be broken if they choose to break it after their 17th birthday, it wouldn't actually affect them, but as the parents of his betrothed, you'd have every right to take him." James said.

"You know," said Raph, "that might just work, and it would keep all the other pure blood heirs and heiresses away."

And so they set about writing a marriage contract, between one Daphne Adelaide Greengrass, and one Hadrian James Potter, unbreakable until they had both reached their 17th birthday and giving Dumbledore no opportunity to take Harry.

Raph and Dee stared at the carnage around them, holding a young boy with strikingly dark hair and piercing green eyes. They had received an alert from the Potter's 5 minutes ago in the form of a talking stag patronus, explaining that Voldemort was attacking. They'd hurried to get dressed, leaving Daphne with a house elf, only to find out that they were too late, Lily and James were dead, but somehow Harry was still alive. They heard the roaring of an engine outside and turned to see Sirius Black striding across the garden, panic written on his face.

"J-James? Lily? Harry?" He asked.

"Harry is alive, but, well," Dee struggled to find the words to explain the horror of what had happened. She didn't need to, as Sirius had just seen past them into the house, and seen his best friend lying on the floor. He gave a sound, half way between a sob and a shriek, the sound that only someone so filled with grief can make, and collapsed in a heap on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.

Suddenly another man appeared. I say man, he was too big to be human, but his features were that of a man. "What happened?" he asked, dropping his tees and aitches.

"Why are you here Hagrid?" Raph asked cautiously instead of answering his question.

"Dumbledore sent me to pick up Harry." Hagrid answered, unaware that he was setting off alarm bells in the Greengrasses' heads.

"How did Dumbledore know?" Dee questioned him

"He said he had an alarm on the wards. Where's Harry?" Hagrid asked

"Harry's coming with us." Raph answered

"But Dumbledore…"

"Dumbledore nothing! I'm his godmother!" Dee half snarled.

"And I'm his godfather, Dumbledore isn't anything except Harry's future headmaster." Sirius entered the conversation.

"Sirius, we need to talk." Dee said, "would you mind coming to the manor?"

"What about…" he indicated James' unmoving body.

"The DMLE will need to see it, we will have to come back later." Raph answered the unfinished question.

Sirius nodded his head before running back to his bike and jumping on.. Raph and Dee disapparated with the young boy, leaving Hagrid alone, wondering precisely how he was going to explain all of this to Dumbledore.


End file.
